Aam Aadmi Party seeks public vote on ruling Delhi

NEW DELHI:The Aam Aadmi Party has announced an unprecedented public referendum to decide whether it should form a minority government with the Congress' support in Delhi, the latest twist in a week old saga marked by a bizarre spectacle of parties fleeing government formation.

A day after the Congress replied to AAP's 18-point charter in a bid to force its hand in forming the government, AAP's chief ministerial candidate Arvind Kejriwal announced that his party would put up the offer in the aam aadmi's court. AAP will invite people to participate in this referendum through 25 lakh pamphlets, SMSes, voice calls and 280 public meetings, which will be held over the weekend.

"We are faced with a tough decision. On one hand, some of our supporters feel that we should not take either Congress or BJP's support and head straight for a reelection. A few others, however, are of the opinion that AAP should form a government and set an example of good governance," said Kejriwal while reading out from his letter addressed to the electorate of Delhi. He added that AAP would make a final decision and write to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on Monday based on the public mandate.

The decision to hold a referendum was arrived at after two meetings - one of the top political leaders and the other of winning candidates — on Tuesday.

According to members of the political affairs committee (PAC) of AAP, the party felt that Congress' reply to AAP's charter of demands was evasive. "But AAP promised its supporters that it will keep coming back to them to make important decisions and we are sticking to that promise," said PAC member Pankaj Gupta.

In order to execute this first-of-akind referendum, AAP has constituted a central team of about 80 people, mostly volunteers.

"A part from distributing Arvind's letter, all our candidates will go door to door inviting people to participate in the public meetings that will be held over the weekend," said AAP spokesperson and PAC emmber Manish Sisodia.

According to Gupta, there will be four meetings in each assembly constituency. The people's mandate will be decided via voice vote at these public meetings. "There will be no counting of ayes and nays. We will try to ascertain the broad public perception through this," said Gupta.